Is this Progress?

March 25, 2008 9:04 PM

First it was hostess bars, then host bars, then maid/anime cafes, and now this. Where will the madness end?

(Note: this idea isn't entirely new in Japan. わんわんァンド (wan-wan rando) does this as sort of a day thing with being able to play with dog. You can peruse their vaguely unsettling "gallery of cuteness" here.

posted by Navelgazer (28 comments total)

I was all ready to book a flight, site unclicked, based on whatever could come after "hostess" and "maid/anime" bars... but animal acts are a little too kinky for me, so I'll stay home.
posted by rokusan at 9:12 PM on March 25, 2008

I would totally go to one of these. Even more so if it was combined with strippers and lap-dancing.
posted by orthogonality at 9:22 PM on March 25, 2008

I think it's a great idea. I would definitely choose a cafe with friendly cats over one without.
posted by The Light Fantastic at 9:28 PM on March 25, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Oh, those crazy based on a random photograph taken out of context Japanese!
posted by KokuRyu at 9:28 PM on March 25, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

Heh, I was just popping in to point out that this isn't a new idea, but glad to see I don't need to. There's been a store called "nekonomise," which translates to "cat's store" at the station I live at. You can see it from the platform, and it's been here longer than I have. I've always thought it might be fun to go in and check it out, but it always seemed odd to combine coffee and shedding.
posted by GoingToShopping at 9:29 PM on March 25, 2008

The madness ends when I eat one of those cats.
posted by not_on_display at 9:38 PM on March 25, 2008

It's a cat petting zoo. What's the big deal?
posted by mexican at 9:59 PM on March 25, 2008

See also: de Poezenboot.

Because it rocks.
posted by pompomtom at 10:02 PM on March 25, 2008

mexican, I'd say that wan-wan rando is like a dog petting zoo, while this new phenomenon is much closer to pet-rental, which I actually think is a quite good idea, but tell me that you could walk into a coffeehouse, sit down, and along with your Latte or Earl Grey, order up a kitten to play with while you sipped your drink, and not think that it was, at the least, a novel concept.
posted by Navelgazer at 10:05 PM on March 25, 2008

Where will the madness end?

With a dance fad, of course. And sailor suits.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 10:19 PM on March 25, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Novel? sure. Analogous to host/hostess bars or maid cafes? not really. I guess the WTF JAPAN? thing just kind of gets to me. And for actual non-petting-zoo type pet rental, you have to go outside Japan.
posted by mexican at 11:32 PM on March 25, 2008

They've had cat cafes in Hong Kong for years and, unlike the Tokyo one, the cats come free with your beverage of choice! The Chococat Cafe even serves desserts shaped like cats and if you ask a waitress, she'll deliver a cat right onto your table! When I went the place was full of girls cooing over the cats while their boyfriends played on their PSPs :)
posted by Kirjava at 3:51 AM on March 26, 2008

Where will the madness end?

Gill Sans?
posted by Smart Dalek at 4:01 AM on March 26, 2008

Oh god my allergies!
posted by Pollomacho at 4:27 AM on March 26, 2008

I'm sitting on my kitty as I type this. What's the big deal?
posted by Dizzy at 4:42 AM on March 26, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Who doesn't wander in to pet stores occasionally to do the same thing?

But yeah, coffee and shedding.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 5:00 AM on March 26, 2008

Cats are totally not Japanese. I remember reading about a B&B here in the US where they offered a cat in every room (optional of course).
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 5:34 AM on March 26, 2008

Let me know when they do this with bunnies.
posted by konolia at 5:35 AM on March 26, 2008

Let me know when they do this with bunnies.

...or giant squid.
posted by tpl1212 at 6:03 AM on March 26, 2008

... or mating giant squid.
posted by lukemeister at 7:00 AM on March 26, 2008

What's the big deal?
I "inject packages of inseminate down my leg" at least twice a week, sometimes more...
posted by Dizzy at 7:05 AM on March 26, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

I'm kind of puzzled by this, because when I lived in Tokyo, there were a lot of street cats in my neighborhood, all of them friendly. If I wanted to play with a cat, all I had to do was walk out the front door. I don't imagine the cat population has changed that much. I guess if you need a feline-affection fix in the middle of a commercial district devoid of cats, this is filling a need. Otherwise, I don't get it.
posted by adamrice at 7:56 AM on March 26, 2008

grrr. I saw 'hostess' and came in here looking for cupcakes.
posted by spinturtle at 7:58 AM on March 26, 2008

Everyone I knew (ok, the girls at least) in college would have loved this. We were all living in the dorms, missing our pets back home and not allowed to keep any animals. My freshman-year roommates and I would go to the park just to see if we could pet strangers' dogs. Heh, now that I think of it, we used to go browse at this sex toy shop on Newbury street in Boston just because they had a basset hound that wandered the store. Kitties and coffee makes way more sense to me than dildos and dogs.

The one thing I'm curious about is how you maintain your claim on a cat once you've rented it. No cat I've ever met would consent to sit on a lap for however long someone wanted, even if that person paid $8 for the privilege.
posted by vytae at 11:06 AM on March 26, 2008

When I read cat cafes in Japan, this is what comes to mind.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 1:07 PM on March 26, 2008

Lukemeister and tpl1212: Will this suffice? Variations on the theme.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 1:18 PM on March 26, 2008

Hoy god, Unicorn! I've had three cats in my life, and they might as well be exactly those three!
posted by Navelgazer at 3:37 PM on March 26, 2008

Navelgazer: Awesome. All your pets are belong to us and they iz tasty.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 11:19 AM on March 27, 2008